New York lawmakers are kings of double-dipping

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01/12/2019

If you want an unbelievably sweet pension deal, consider becoming a New York state lawmaker.

Consider: Three assemblymembers who just won re-election turned around and officially “retired” — yet still took their seats in the Legislature this month, as the Democrat & Chronicle reported. That let them collect state pensions while simultaneously earning their salaries as lawmakers.

Such double-dipping is perfectly legal under New York law (written, of course, by the very people who stand to benefit). Yes, it sure is good to be a state lawmaker.

Peter Abbate Jr. (D-Brooklyn), Deborah Glick (D-Manhattan) and Fred Thiele (I-Long Island) will now rake in an estimated $57,000 to $70,000 a year in “retirement” pay, on top of their regular checks — salaries that themselves rise to $110,000 this year and $130,000 in 2021. (And that doesn’t count any stipends or per-diem reimbursements they may also get.)

Former Assembly Majority Leader and now-Rep. Joseph Morelle (D-Monroe County) gets an even cooler deal: He’ll now enjoy an $80,000 state pension to supplement his $174,000 congressional pay.

And these lawmakers are just the latest in a long line of Albany double-dippers: State records show that 15 assemblymembers and six state senators collected both pensions and regular salaries last year.

Meanwhile, as of July 2017, at least 856 state and local public workers under 65 got waivers to collect public pensions and government paychecks at the same time, according to Empire Center data. (Anyone 65 or older doesn’t even need a waiver.)

Even without taking two bites of the apple, public workers do quite well: Nearly 5,000 drew pensions of over $100,000 in 2018, with 20 pulling in more than $200,000 and three topping 300 grand.

It’s a great deal for them. Yet most New Yorkers don’t have guaranteed pension benefits; the best they can hope for is a 401k-style plan whose value depends on the market. Yet it’s average taxpayers who foot the bill for public pensions: State and local governments must shift tax revenues to the state retirement funds to cover them. And those amounts have soared from $164.5 million in 2000 to $4.8 billion in 2017 — a 2,900 percent jump.